Planning for Your Pets
Sample Directives
These issues can be addressed in multiple ways: through informal arrangements with friends and/or family members; by formal directives in either a pet guardian document and/or a Will; or by written guardian plan for placement to a new home with a local shelter.
- For a Will or Guardian Agreement.
- I hereby give and bequeath my pet dog “Fido” to my friend Pete Henrys to provide continued care and shelter for Fido.
- To give pet with financial gift for support and maintenance of the pet.
- I hereby give and bequeath my cat “Fluffy” to my friend Pete Henrys to provide continued care and shelter for Fluffy. I also give and bequeath the sum of $5,000 Pete Henrys to the fund the costs and expenses to care for and maintain Fluffy.
- I give and bequeath my dog “Fido” to the Roice-Hurst Humane Society to provide care and shelter for him pending the Humane Society being able to place him in an appropriate new and safe home.
- I give and bequeath my cat “Fluffy” to the Roice-Hurst Humane Society to provide care and shelter for him pending the shelter being able to place him in an appropriate new and safe home. I also give and bequeath the sum of $10,000 to the Roice-Hurst Humane Society for use in its on-going operations and programs to help animals.
- I give and bequeath the sum of $25,000 to the Roice-Hurst Humane Society, a Colorado Non-Profit entity, 362 28 Road, Grand Junction, Colorado, to help fund its programs to care for homeless pets.
- A person can also create a Pet Trust for the care and financial support of their pets. This can be done by including appropriate language in a person’s Will or the Trust can be created by separate document. [1] The Trust will leave a certain sum to a designated Trustee for purposes of care for and maintaining the pet during its life, for a maximum of 21 years.
[1] Authorized by Colorado Revised Statutes Sec. 15-11-901(2)